Fox McCloud & Iron Man: When Worlds Collide
by Joe Mysor
Summary: Billionaire inventor Tony Stark Iron Man teams up with Fox McCloud in order to get him back to the Lylat System and save Earth and Corneria from impending doom while battling Justin Hammer, Whiplash, and Wolf. Book #1/6 in my Marvel/Nintendo series!
1. Introduction

THE ORIGIN OF IRON MAN

Many years ago in a war-torn country, billionaire inventor and industrialist Tony Stark was captured by enemy forces along with another professor named Yinsen and forced to build weapons for a terrorist group. In order to escape, Stark and Yinsen built a robotic suit instead of a weapon and used the suit to escape. Yinsen, however, did not escape the camp and sacrificed himself to give Tony a chance to power-up and escape.

Since then, Tony Stark has upgraded the armor time and time again and has even joined a group of other heroes to fight for the good of mankind as the invincible Iron Man!

THE ORIGIN OF STAR FOX

In the far away galaxy known as the Lylat System on the planet Corneria, young Fox McCloud learned that his father James McCloud, leader of the mercenary for-hire group Star Fox, had been captured and murdered by the evil scientist Andross. A few years later, Fox himself took up his father's position as leader of the team and defeated Andross and saved the galaxy from tyranny.

Since then, the Star Fox group which consists of Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Krystal Fox, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad are always alert and ready to answer the call for help wherever needed.

OTHER CAST MEMBERS

– Colonel James Rhodes –

An air force colonel, Tony Stark's best friend, and one of the only people who knows Stark's secret identity as Iron Man. Later on, Colonel Rhodes was given his own Iron Man-type suit and went on to aid Tony as War Machine.

– Krystal Fox –

Krystal is a vixen and the only remaining inhabitant of her planet which was destroyed. Fox and she met on the dinosaur planet called Sauria after she had been captured by the ghost of Andross and used to channel Krazoa spirits for him. After being rescued and Andross was defeated, she joined Star Fox. She also has deep feelings for Fox as he does for her.

– Justin Hammer –

One of Tony Stark's most dangerous business rivals being that he seeks to not just shut down Stark Enterprises, but also kill anyone who gets in his way while he does so.

– Mark Scarlotti / Whiplash –

Mark Scarlotti is a weapons expert who goes by the alias of Whiplash. Like his namesake, his primary choice of weapon is a deadly whip that emits electricity and could tear solid steel in two with just one crack from it. He is usually in the employment of Justin Hammer.

– Wolf O'Donnell –

Fox McCloud's most persistent and deadly rival. Wolf O'Donnell is the leader of rival mercenary group Star Wolf. Unlike Star Fox, Star Wolf is much more vicious and merciless and usually hires themselves out to criminals and galactic dictators. It just depends on who has the bigger wallet. He hates Fox with a passion and hopes to one day destroy him. But if the situation gets desperate, he doesn't mind working with Fox for the duration.

The following story takes place a few stories after "Iron Man #200", but before the events of "Star Fox Assault". I do not any of the characters in this story. Please enjoy.


	2. Prologue: Through the Hole

"Playtime's over, Fox." Wolf O'Donnell said cooly as he locked his long-range lasers onto Fox McCloud's Arwing. His claws grasped the flight stick as he prepared to fire. He had been waiting for this moment since this morning when he had heard Fox and his crew were hired to investigate a smuggling operation in Sector Z. Luckily for Wolf, it was his smuggling operation they were sent to investigate and now Wolf had Fox trapped in a small area near a huge shipping ship.

Over in Fox's Arwing, Fox was searching for a possible way to escape before Wolf fired. But everywhere he looked, there was a dangerous object in the way and his own defenses were completely offline. All he could do now was brace and hope that the blast doesn't destroy his life support system on the first hit.

Suddenly, another Arwing appeared from behind a nearby asteroid and began firing at Wolf's ship. Just as Fox had hoped, the other pilot was on target and Wolf was battered out of the way allowing Fox to pull out and escape. Fox managed to spy who the pilot was. The mysterious vixen Krystal had only been with them a few months and so far, even though she had practically no real experience in dogfighting, she was already a near-perfect marksman thanks to some practice time with Fox.

"Thanks!" Fox said through his radio as he continued back to the Great Fox for repairs while Krystal turned and began to follow as well.

"Your welcome. It's lucky Slippy finished the final repairs on my Arwing in time. The others are still in for repairs." Krystal replied as they flew closer to the opening of the Great Fox. Fox also took this opportunity while communicating with Krystal to look behind at Wolf who had recovered and was also coming up fast behind them.

"Krystal! Behind you!" Fox yelled through his radio in hopes that he would be in time to alert her of the oncoming danger. But instead of getting a reply back, all he heard was static and then Wolf's voice came on. He sounded much angrier than before.

"That wasn't fair, Fox. This battle is between you and me! First I'm going to vaporize your little partner and then I'm coming after you!" Wolf growled as he shutdown the communication between them.

"NO!" Fox yelled into the radio as he tried to re-communicate with Krystal and warn her of Wolf. Fox was also hoping that Krystal would think to turn around and see Wolf coming but so far she hadn't made any type of defensive maneuver yet. Fox knew there was only one thing he could do in order to save Krystal. He quickly turned his Arwing around and started back towards Wolf's ship hoping to get Wolf to come after him while Krystal made it back to the Great Fox.

At first Wolf didn't turn and follow him, but then he turned his Wolfen around and started after Fox again while Krystal also began to turn around.

As Fox began to plan a new strategy while also trying to get the radio to work, a bright light suddenly flashed in front of Fox causing him to shield his eyes. Now he couldn't see anything! Was this one of Wolf's tricks? Was this a new enemy? Did something blow up? Krystal? The questions raced in Fox's mind while the light slowly faded and his eyesight returned to him. Now, straight in front of him was not space but a huge, swirling black hole that was swallowing everything in front of it. But this was strange. Black holes have never appeared like that before.

Fox quickly threw his Arwing into reverse in hopes of escaping the hole's suction, but it was too late and the Arwing began slowly towards it while other things flew quickly past him. Among them was Wolf's ship. Fox watched as Wolf and his ship were swallowed and then literally torn to molecules in a split second. Now things were much more serious than before. Unless he could escape the suction with the last rocket boost, Fox would share his arch-rival's fate.

With a few pushes on his control panel, Fox braced himself as the boosters on his Arwing fired but to avail. Fox closed his eyes and braced for the worst as his Arwing, now completely out of power besides the life support system, went into the hole. Fox just wished he had had time to say goodbye to his friends and to the woman he loved. As his Arwing went deeper into the black hole, Fox opened his eyes and watched in horror as he and his ship began to turn to small molecules. He screamed in pain until everything was silent and dark.


	3. Chapter 1: The Life of Tony Stark

"Ah, there she is." Tony Stark thought as he drove into the lot of a construction site which would soon be the new Stark Industries. It had only been a year since he had lost his old company to a person he had thought was his friend but was now long dead and forgotten. Obadiah Stane was a monster of a man, indeed. But thanks to people like Colonel Jim Rhodes and others, Tony was able to stop Stane's mad plans forever as Iron Man.

After Tony had parked his car, he got out and began looking around for the foreman who was in charge of the construction. Tony soon spotted him at the other end of the lot talking to a man in a shady looking outfit. The foreman seemed slightly frightened of the sinister looking man and Tony agreed with him. The shady man gave off a sinister and deadly vibe. As he approached the foreman, the shady man got into a waiting black car and sped off into the distance.

"Who was that?" Tony asked the foreman as the car went over a hill and disappeared from view.

"I was about to call you about him, sir. He's been seen around here lately and now I know why." The foreman said as he sternly looked into Tony's eyes. "Sir, I think we're going to need the assistance of your friend Iron Man." The foreman said.

"Iron Man?" Tony asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. The man said that if we didn't stop working for you, bad things would begin to happen to me and my men. I told him to leave, but he refused to until you showed up." The foreman said as Tony got his car keys out of his pocket and began to walk back to his car.

"Good work. I'll send Iron Man over here tonight in case he comes back. But keep me informed of everything that happens." Tony said as he got back into his car and started it up. "Well, looks like old shellhead is going to get another workout sooner than I thought." Tony said as he left the parking area and got back on the main road. But the main question that was on Tony's mind was just who could be behind this threat? Tony had made lots of enemies as both himself and Iron Man, but it could be anyone of them if not all of them who are behind the threats.

After an hour of driving and thinking about the situation, Tony parked his car inside his garage and then went inside his house. Once inside, he was surprised to find his friend Jim Rhodes inside waiting for him.

"Hi Tony! Hope you don't mind me dropping over unexpectedly like this?" Rhodes said as he finished helping himself to a beer in Tony's fridge.

"Actually, I'd rather have you break into my house a million times over instead of what's going on over at the construction site today." Tony said as he hung his keys up and got a beer for himself as well.

"Uh oh. Now what?" Rhodes said as he started drinking his beer and Tony sat down across from him.

"My foreman was greeted today by an unfriendly visitor wearing a dark cloak and hat. Said if they don't stop building our new Stark Industries plant, he'll start causing some real trouble." Tony said as he opened up his beer and started drinking.

"Any idea who this masked man might be?" Rhodes said as he put his glass down and looked at Tony.

"Are you kidding me, Rhodey?" Tony said as he too put his glass down. "Both Iron Man and Tony Stark have enough enemies that want to kill them that one could start a game show on the matter." Tony finished.

"Yes, I could actually see that. We could get Bob Barker to host it too." Rhodes said as he picked up his drink once again while laughing. "Boy, I could see it now. Crimson Dynamo! Come on down! You're the next contestant on "Who Wants to Kill Tony Stark?"." Rhodes said in the style of a game show announcer.

"Yeah, but you still haven't told me why you're over here." Tony said looking at Rhodes who finished laughing and put his drink down once more and started to change the mood.

"I came over here because Nick Fury was looking for you again." Rhodes said as Tony finished his beer.

"What does he want now? I thought Stane gave SHIELD everything of mine except the kitchen sink? Don't tell my Fury wants that now!" Tony said as he got up and disposed of his beer can.

"Actually, it might be something a little more serious." Rhodes said as his mood completely changed to a more serious attitude. "Not ten hours ago, SHIELD and every satellite located in Earth's orbit detected a strange anomaly forming near the moon. Now every news agency on the planet is trying to get answers from scientists who are just as clueless as everyone else." Rhodes got up and went over his briefcase. "Tony, this thing appears to be a gigantic black hole of some sort." Rhodes said as he pulled out some pictures of the anomaly and handed them to Tony.

"But that's impossible. Black holes don't just appear like that." Tony said as studied the pictures and then looked back at Rhodes.

"Has the anomaly done anything else?" Tony asked as Rhodes took the pictures from him.

"Yes in fact. Satellites took pictures of a spacecraft coming out of the hole and then disappearing on Earth. SHIELD didn't say anything else about it." Rhodes said.

"But SHIELD wants Iron Man to see if the anomaly is going to spew more things out of it, right?" Tony said.

"Exactly. SHIELD feels that you're best equipped at the moment to investigate it." Rhodes said as he put the pictures back.

"Me? Why me? Isn't the Fantastic Four available? Or the Silver Surfer? Or some other super hero?" Tony asked as Rhodes packed everything up.

"Right now the Fantastic Four are no where to be found and you know how hard it is to find the Silver Surfer." Rhodes said as he began to leave. "Hey man, I don't mean to through this on you like that and I know you got something else going on. So, I'll take your place as Iron Man at the construction site while you head into outer space." Rhodes said as he headed towards the front door while Tony put his hand on his head.

"Well, better get working on this before they ask me move the planet next or something like that."


	4. Chapter 2: From Space He Came

Fox McCloud opened his eyes. At first everything was quite blurry, but eventually he could see space and all the stars out there once again. As he sat up, he grasped the back of his neck and yelped in pain. He must've been laying on it wrong. But that is the least of his worries as questions dart about his mind in search of fast answers.

"What happened? Where am I? I don't recognize this star system. I....oh." Fox's memory suddenly takes him back to Wolf's smuggling operation and how he almost met his end if it wasn't for Krystal. But then he and Wolf were sucked into what appeared to be a black hole that appeared from a bright flash of light. He thought he had died in the hole, but apparently it teleported him across the universe to a distant galaxy. He had to figure out exactly where he was. He had to get back! He had to!

Fox began to check his systems and found that, for some strange and unknown reason, the trip through the black hole had fixed all his ship's problems and put everything back online. Fox suddenly heard a tapping sound behind him on the back windshield. Turning swiftly, Fox was met with the sight of a strange red and silver robot. Fox didn't waste time to figure out if the robot was friendly or not and quickly piloted the Arwing away from the it. A few meters away, Fox picked up the radio and tried to communicate with it.

"Robotoid! Identify yourself." Fox said through the radio as the robot began to fly closer towards him. "Please respond! Identify yourself." Fox yelled as the robot came closer. Suddenly, static sounded on the radio and a voice came over.

"Attention alien life form. Please descend your ship to the surface of the planet below us immediately." The robot said as it came closer.

Fox wasn't sure what to do. Should he descend to the planet and possibly open himself up for an attack? Or should he stay and try to defeat the robot in hopes he can go back through the black hole? After a few seconds of thinking, Fox made the decision and tried to make a run for the black hole. However, his Arwing wasn't fast enough and the robot somehow grabbed and stopped the Arwing from moving any further. Fox saw this and realized he had only one chance to escape the robot's grasp and that was to fire his boosters. The boosters fired successfully, but the robot's strength was greater than he thought and the Arwing only moved a few meters. Suddenly, the radio came on again.

"Listen! I'm not trying to hurt you! Descend to the planet's surface so we can talk! I mean you no harm!" The robot said as Fox listened carefully. Now, he wasn't completely sure, but Fox thought the robot sounded more like a man than a machine.

After a few minutes of thinking, Fox turned the booster rockets on his Arwing off and motioned to the robot that he'd follow it down. As the robot lead the way, Fox put his hand on the laser canon firing button in case the robot was really luring him into a trap.

After getting through the atmosphere, Fox peered out at the landscape. He wasn't really impressed. The cities back on Corneria are much taller and the cars hover instead of move on wheels like they did in ancient times.

As they neared ground level, the robot motioned for Fox to land his Arwing on the roof of a fancy looking building. Fox did so without any trouble and then got out. Just as he hit the ground and took a breath of fresh air, the robot removed its head to reveal a man inside.

"You're part human. Are you a cyborg?" Fox said as he observed the robot put his helmet and gloves down.

"Thankfully not, but sometimes I feel like one." The man said as he walked over to Fox and began looking him over. "But you're animal." The man said.

"I think the term you're looking for is Cornerian." Fox said, folding his arms together while still eyeing the man cautiously. Fox had seen humans before on several rare occasions. Usually when it came to being transported to Smash World where he would meet other heroes like Mario or Solid Snake. The man then extended a hand and gave bit of a smile.

"My name is Tony Stark, but please, call me Iron Man. Welcome to Earth." Tony said as Fox shook his hand.

"Commander Fox McCloud. Thanks for telling me where I am." Fox said as they finished shaking.

"You've never heard of my galaxy, the Lylat System, before?" Fox said as he looked at the now un-armored Tony Stark. They were sitting in Tony's house where Tony and Rhodes had been sitting only a few hours earlier.

"I'm afraid not. Could you possibly name a galaxy that is next to it? I've got some friends who have traveled through the universe so, when I meet with them next, I might be able to find out how far you've traveled." Tony asked as he handed Fox a can of beer which Fox eyed curiously.

"What is this?" Fox asked as Tony started to drink his.

"It's beer. One of our most common drinks. Just try it." Tony said as Fox took a sip.

"I seem to recognize the taste. But we don't call it beer on our planet." Fox said as he put the can down. "As for other galaxies, I don't know any." Fox finished as Tony listened. "So what will you do with me now, hm?" Fox asked as he became more relaxed and smiled a bit. "Turn me over to be studied by your government? Ripped apart? Eaten? Dissected?" Fox said.

"Actually, I'm not going to tell anyone you're here. I think it's best we keep my government out of this until we can figure out how to get you back to the...uh...." Tony had forgotten the name of the galaxy.

"Lylat System." Fox corrected him.

"Yeah, Lylat System and make sure that anomaly you came through isn't dangerous to anyone else." Tony finished.

"Speaking of that anomaly, did you happen to see anything else come out from inside of it?" Fox asked after remembering Wolf went through the same wormhole.

"Actually, something else did come out from it. A spaceship of some kind. Similar to yours." Tony said. "Do you know what or who it was?" Tony finished.

"I'll tell you who it was." Fox said as he stood up. "Trouble".


	5. Chapter 3: Villain Meet Villain

"Baby Joe's". A local rundown tavern in downtown Los Angeles. The only people who go there are drunks, hobos, con-artists, and various criminals. Sometimes, if you're unlucky, you'll get to run into one of those super powered criminals. Well, tonight was someone's unlucky night as a man in a black hat and coat walked in and sat himself down at the bar and waited to be served.

Just hours ago, this very man had threatened an entire construction crew to stop building the compound for the new Stark Industries for his employer. But now, he realizes that the workers will not stop and brute force will be needed in order to persuade them to change their minds. Especially if Iron Man gets involved. The man smiles and chuckles at the thought of getting to kill so many people. He liked to kill people. He treated it like one might treat his or her daily job. It's what he does. For this man is the wanted killer for-hire, Mark Scarlotti. Or better known as Whiplash.

A few weeks ago, Scarlotti was approached by one of his oldest employers named Justin Hammer. Hammer had wanted to destroy Tony Stark, Iron Man, and Stark's company for years but never could do it on his own. Many times has Hammer, Whiplash, and many like them tried to destroy Stark and all that he possesses. But every time they do so, Iron Man appears to thwart them time and time again. But recently, a ray of hope has shone through for the evil men. After Stark lost his company to the late Obadiah Stane, Hammer was able to deal with Stark Enterprises much more easily than before. But with Stane gone, the race to buy Stark Enterprises is on. It just depends who can scrap up enough money first.

And that's what Hammer has sent Whiplash to do tonight. Hit Stark where it hurts hard so that he will fall down during the race and Hammer will be able to move forward and become the owner of the greatest weapons manufacturing company in the world while Whiplash gets to kill a lot a people and collect a lot of money. But before he can embark on his mission of evil, Whiplash must wait for Hammer to arrive at "Baby Joe's"" to give him the go-ahead to attack. And tonight, that meeting may have a little trouble getting started.

Suddenly, just as the bartender came over to where Whiplash was sitting, a large crash was heard at the back door of the tavern along with a long and ferocious howl. The bartender immediately ran out the front door along with the rest of the customers. All except Whiplash of course. Whiplash instead turned towards the direction of the sound and watched as a wolf, that looked like a man and was dressed in a strange spacesuit-like armor, walked in. For a few seconds, the beast stopped and looked menacingly at Whiplash who, unbeknownst to the monster, had his whip ready to go under his coat.

Without warning, the beast leapt towards him. Its teeth bearing. But Whiplash was ready and with a simple, but hard throwing-motion from his arm, the monster was stopped in midair by a sharp stinging pain and electricity.

"That's what you get for messing with miller time, freak!" Whiplash said as the monster slowly recovered and got to its feet, growling all the way.

"W...what is this place!?" The monster said as it, instead of attacking, sat down at the bar. Whiplash, believing he had somehow "tamed" the monster, sat down with him.

"It's a bar. Don't you recognize a bar when you see one?" Whiplash said as he poured himself and the monster a glass and slid it towards the beast. "Here. This will put the fight back in you. But don't try anything funny or that'll be the last thing you drink!" Whiplash said.

"Screw the petty threats buddy and let me drink in peace." The monster said as it gulped down the drink.

"You ain't from around here, are you?" Whiplash said as he poured both of them another glass.

"Not exactly." The monster said taking another swig before continuing. "Call me Wolf." The monster finished.

"I'm Whiplash. But you probably figured that out by now." Whiplash said with an evil smile while pouring a third glass for both of them.

"Yeah, it still stings like hell." Wolf said putting his hand on the spot where Whiplash had whipped him.

"So, what exactly are you?" Whiplash asked as he, for a fourth time, refilled their glasses.

"Mercenary for hire. And you?" Wolf asked before taking another drink.

"Saboteur or Mercenary for hire." Whiplash replied.

"Well, we'll get along just fine then." Wolf said mockingly.

Just then, the door opened and in walked an old, sly man in a nice business suit. Definitely something you'd never see in this type of environment. With a loud cough, the old man got Wolf and Whiplash's attentions.

"Making friends, Whiplash?" The old man said as he sat next to Whiplash and Wolf. "And who might this hairy creature be?" The man asked.

"I dunno. Says he's a mercenary for hire like me. He just barged in here, but I put him down. Calls himself Wolf." Whiplash said as the old man eyed Wolf with curiosity.

"Are you as strong as your namesake, Mr. Wolf?" The old man asked.

"Of course I'm strong! I took this place apart with my bare hands! Just ask Whippy over here." Wolf said acknowledging Whiplash.

"Yeah. He did. But anyone can take a building apart with their bare hands now days." Whiplash said trying not to sound enthusiastic.

"But what's it to you?" Wolf asked as the old man continued to study Wolf's actions and attitude.

"Oh, nothing special. I'm just looking for a few good men to hire for my personal missions and such. You wouldn't happen to be interested in a job, would you Mr. Wolf?" The old man asked.

"Okay, first. The full name's Wolf O'Donnell. And second, yeah a new job sounds pretty good right about now. But I require a payment I'm afraid you may not be able to reward me with once the job is done." Wolf said as the old man listened.

"And what might that be?" The old man asked.

"I must return to my galaxy through that anomaly near your planet's moon, but my ship was damaged and my repair crew isn't present at the moment." Wolf said before taking his fifth glass.

"You're alien?" The old man asked with his eyes widened. Apparently, the old man had never dealt with an alien before. That, and he probably didn't believe Wolf to be an alien at all.

"Sure. If that's what you want to call me. Fine. But can you meet my price?" Wolf asked as his eyes narrowed and he made a slight growl.

"I can meet any price." The old man said as he extended his hand and Wolf took and shook it.

"Now then." The old man said after finish shaking hands with Wolf. "Whiplash! What's the word from our friends over at the Stark construction site?" The old man asked as Whiplash finished his tenth drink.

"I threatened them, but they told me to back off or they'd send Iron Man to get me. I'm going to blow the place to pieces tonight. That is, if you've got my check." Whiplash said as the old man handed him a check. "Thank you very much, Mr. Hammer." Whiplash said as he tucked the check into his coat pocket.

"That's the down payment. The rest comes when Stark is out of the race to buy back his company." Hammer said as he got up and began to walk out. "Oh, and take Wolf along with you tonight. After the way Iron Man has humiliated you in the past, a little backup this time may bring improvement." Hammer said as he left leaving Whiplash upset over the comment while Wolf laughed a little.

Meanwhile back up in space, the anomaly shakes and quivers with more tension as it spews out another ship. This ship is piloted by one who seeks another she has lost and she won't stop until she has found and rescued him. Krystal, the mysterious vixen with telekinetic powers searches frantically for Fox and zeroes in on a blue and green planet near the entry point of the black hole.


	6. Chapter 4: Construction Site War

"I hope that saboteur shows up tonight, otherwise I'm calling it quits and going home to bed." Jim Rhodes thought to himself as he looked at his in-armor watch. He had been there since six that evening and now it was nearing two in the morning. To make matters worse, the old Iron Man armor's cooling system was offline so it was quite hot inside of it. The good part about all this is that he's getting paid.

Suddenly, a large explosion rocked the entire complex and Jim Rhodes quickly got to his feet and ran over towards the direction the blast had come from. Peering behind a corner, Rhodes' saw a familiar face planting plastic explosives all around the building's side. Jim Rhodes knew this person to be one of Tony's greatest enemies, Whiplash. But for tonight, Whiplash would be his enemy.

Quickly activating repulsors on his gauntlets, Rhodes aimed and fired at Whiplash which knocked him backwards through a nearby brickwall.

"Oh, that's gotta sting." Rhodes said as Whiplash slowly began to recover.

"Iron Man!" Whiplash yelled as if surprised to be meeting his adversary again. "Fool! You should've stayed away! But now I will have a chance to finish you off." Whiplash said as he got his whip ready for use.

"Buster, you couldn't finish off a ham sandwich." Rhodes said as Whiplash began whipping at him. But Rhodes was just quick enough to dodge every hit from Whiplash's whip. All Rhodes needed to do now was find a way to defeat him.

Just as Rhodes was about to re-activate his repulsors and fire at Whiplash once again, a sudden howl caused him to stop and turn. What he saw next was unbelievable. A wolf who stood like a man in a strange outfit was standing on a platform above him. Rhodes turned his attention to the wolf and tried to attack it with the repulsors, but the wolf was too fast and immediately jumped out of the way.

Suddenly, Whiplash's whip hit Rhodes' back causing him to fall face first to the ground. Rhodes tried to get up, but found that Whiplash's electrical attack had knocked out the computers inside the armor and he was now powerless to move. But he could still hear what was happening outside.

"I did not need your help!" Whiplash yelled.

"But you got it anyway. Besides, I wasn't going to let you have all the fun." Another deep voice said. Rhodes assumed it was the wolf talking. "So, this is the one called Iron Man whom you fear so much? How sad. Nothing more than a walking tin can." The wolf said mockingly as Rhodes sensed Whiplash and the wolf coming closer.

"Yeah, that's him. But what I don't get is why he's wearing that older armor. Last I heard, he had switched to a different more powerful armor." Whiplash said as he and the wolf stood right over Rhodes who was sweating more than usual now.

"Well, why don't we get him out of that oversized can and finish him off?" The wolf said. "Who knows? He might even be playing opossum just so we could be caught off guard later." The wolf finished.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to see who Iron Man really was." Whiplash replied. "But how do we get him out of the armor? Others have tried before, but the armor is seemingly invulnerable." Whiplash asked as Rhodes felt himself being lifted to his knees by the wolf.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

Meanwhile back at Tony Stark's residence, Tony and his guest had just finished talking when Tony's emergency line rang and he quickly answered.

"Tony! Tony are you there! Come in, man! This is Rhodes!" Rhodes' voice said as Tony picked up a communication device on his wall which was specifically designed to communicate with people in the Iron Man armor.

"Go ahead Rhodey." Tony said.

"Dude. I need the real Iron Man now. Whiplash and some wolf creature managed to shut me off! They're going to unmask me and blow up the construction site." Rhodes said as a loud scratching noise was heard in the background.

"On my way." Tony said as he hung up the device and went over to Fox. "It appears, like you and I, your enemy has met my enemy." Tony said as went over to the Iron Man armor sitting on a table.

"Then it looks like I'm coming with you." Fox said. "Where are they?" Fox asked as Tony finished dressing.

"My construction site. It would take about an hour to get there if we took my car, but we're not driving. We're flying." Tony said.

"Now that's my kind of travel." Fox replied.

"Hurry Tony. Hurry!" Rhodes thought to himself as Wolf and Whiplash began cutting through the armor with saws they had found. It would only take them at least 5 more minutes before they had cut off most of the armor.

"We're almost through! Soon I will be the first person to see Iron Man's true identity!" Whiplash said excitedly as he knew he would finally have the necessary leverage to torment his greatest enemy forever.

Suddenly, Whiplash and Wolf's attentions were taken off Iron Man at the sound of two jet engines coming closer. As they looked up, they saw a plane and another Iron Man coming straight towards them. As they got closer, they began firing repulsor and laser blasts at the ground. Whiplash and Wolf dropped everything and ran underneath the construction site to escape.

"If that's Iron Man out there! Who the hell is that!?" Wolf yelled as they watched the plane and the other Iron Man land near the first Iron Man.

"I don't know! Probably some sort of decoy!" Whiplash said as he motioned for Wolf to get ready to attack. But Wolf stopped Whiplash after getting a closer look at the plane accompanying Iron Man.

"That plane! An Arwing! It can't be!" Wolf growled.

"What are you talking about!?" Whiplash asked as Wolf began to move closer in order to see better.

"My enemy followed me through!" Wolf said angrily as he watched Fox get out of his Arwing and go over to Rhodes with Tony.

"Your enemy? You mean that guy who looks like a fox?" Whiplash asked as Wolf crouched.

"Yes." Wolf said. "He's caused me about as much trouble as your enemy Iron Man has caused you and our employer." Wolf said as surveyed the area.

"This complicates things." Whiplash said as he began to press a button on his whip causing sparks to fly from it. "We should escape and detonate the building now before they capture us or..." Whiplash was interrupted by Wolf.

"Enough talk. We must strike before they strike at us!" Wolf yelled as he got up and charged towards Fox, Iron Man, and Rhodes.

Just as Wolf began his charge, Tony spotted him on the scanner inside his armor and immediately turned and blasted Wolf backwards with a repulsor blast. But Wolf had given Whiplash just enough time to sneak around behind the heroes and quickly whipped Tony and Fox to side.

"Man! That guy hits hard!" Fox said getting back to his feet and starting to push his fur back down on his arms and face. The blast of electricity that came from Whiplash's whip had caused him to look like a big ball of fluff.

"Yeah, but at least my new armor prevents my computer systems from being effected by his attacks." Tony said as he too got up and prepared to meet his enemy's next attack. But Whiplash was not preparing for another attack. He instead was retreating with Wolf as fast as they could run. But why?

Suddenly, Tony realized why they were running and grabbed both Fox and Rhodes and activated the boosters on his boots. He just hoped they were going to get far enough away in time. A few seconds later, the three looked back and saw a huge explosion destroy half of the construction site.

"Woah! And that could've been us!" Fox admitted as Tony set him and Rhodes down on the ground while the half-finished buildings fell to the ground in flames and a giant cloud of dust and smoke.

"As soon as I saw Whiplash and that wolf thing run off, the scanners in my suit detected a remote activated explosive." Tony said. "But before we go after those two, lets get Rhodey out of this other suit." Tony said as he and Fox began removing the suit off of Jim Rhodes.

"What kept you?" Rhodes said as he got up with Tony's help.

"Looks like we were still a little too late, Rhodey. Those two blew half of the unfinished complex sky-high. But at least we know who is really behind this." Tony said as he began walking Rhodes over to Rhodes hidden car.

"Wait! We do?" Rhodes said as Tony opened the car door and sat his friend down in the front seat to rest.

"Only one person would hire Whiplash to do a job that involved destroying me. And he's the only person on the list of buyers for my old company who would resort to this kind of foul play. Justin Hammer." Tony said as Rhodes looked from Tony to Fox.

"Who's this?" Rhodes asked as he pointed to Fox.

"Commander Fox McCloud. A pleasure to meet you Colonel Rhodes." Fox said as he extended a hand and shook hands with Rhodes.

"He and that wolf thing came from the anomaly SHIELD sent me to look at." Tony said. "Apparently it's not dangerous or anything, but it seems to be an inter-dimensional gateway between our universe and his." Tony finished as Rhodes listened.

"I haven't left yet because I wanted to bring Wolf back with me. He's a wanted criminal on my planet." Fox said. "Besides, I'm not even sure if that anomaly will take me straight back to my world or just to another part of the universe." Fox finished.

"Well, what are waiting for!? Let's go get Hammer and his goons and send Fox and this Wolf guy back to their universe!" Rhodes said.

Suddenly, Fox's radio turned on and static came over. Fox clicked a few buttons on it to see who was trying to contact him and was startled by the voice he heard calling his name.

"Fox! Come in! Please! Fox, do you copy?" A female's voice said as it went in and out from static.

"Krystal." Fox said quietly.


	7. Chapter 5: Colonel Fury

"Alright, where is he!" A man in a blue SHIELD uniform and wearing an eye patch yelled as he barged into Stark Industry's main building and came face to face with Jim Rhodes.

"Listen Fury, Tony's real busy right now and we said we were working on that space wormhole thing, so just..." Rhodes was cut off.

"I wanna see Stark immediately! Now get out of my way Rhodes!" The man said as he shoved Rhodes aside and continued walking forward to Tony Stark's office. Colonel Nick Fury, director the world-wide peace-keeping agency called SHIELD, had dealt with Tony Stark on several occasions.

When Obadiah Stane took over, Fury tried to take the Iron Man armor designs but ran into some trouble from both Iron Man and the fish people from Atlantis. Long story short, Fury never got the Iron Man armor plans.

As he burst through Tony's office doors, he saw Stark sitting at his desk and looking over some papers. Tony looked up pleasantly and then leaned back and prepared for the onslaught of words Fury had for him.

"Okay, Stark. Time we had a heart to heart chat with each other about that little space wormhole floating next to our moon." Fury said in a sarcastic, sweet voice.

"I'm all ears, Fury." Tony said as he just sat there and looked calmly at his wannabe commander.

"I asked for a report on the situation nearly twenty-four hours ago and I haven't heard a thing! Instead, I see through American satellites your bodyguard Iron Man flying away with an alien spacecraft. What's the damn deal!" Fury yelled as he slammed some satellite pictures of Iron Man leading Fox's Arwing to Earth.

"Fury, I know exactly what would happen if you found that alien. You'd send it over to one of your government facilities and have it studied. Maybe even killed! Now, I'm not going to let you have it or even see it. It's not government property and it certainly doesn't pose any type of threat to national or international security!" Tony argued back.

Fury simply looked at Stark with disgust. Apparently his mission was to take the extraterrestrial back with him for study. If Stark wasn't going to give the alien up, he was going to have to resort to drastic measures.

"Very well, Stark. But when you or Iron Man find yourselves in a pinch and need assistance, don't come cryin' to my doorstep!" Fury said as he stomped angrily out the door.

Just as Fury left, Rhodes came in while Tony slumped back into his chair and rubbed his hand over his forehead.

"You know Fury is going to do everything in his power to try and get Fox, right?" Rhodes said.

"Yeah, I know. I just need to figure out a way to get both him and that Wolf assassin back through the wormhole." Tony said as he leaned forward and started to look over the papers on his desk again.

"Well, what's so hard about that? Can't we just repair Fox's ship, storm Hammer's hideout, capture Wolf, and then have Fox fly through the black hole again?" Rhodes said as he took a seat in front of Tony's desk.

"It's a little harder than that, Jim. According to my findings, if Fox was to go through the black hole again he could wind up in ANY alternate reality. It's not a two-way street, it's a thousand-way street." Tony said gravely.

"Then how do we get them back to their universe?" Rhodes said raising his arms up in confusion.

"I don't know, Jim. I just don't know." Tony said as he put his hands on his head and began to think.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded on Tony's desk causing both Tony and Jim to jump.

"Isn't that your house alarm?" Rhodes asked as Tony tried to shut it off.

"Yes! I left Fox at the house to work on his ship. Something's wrong! Let's go quickly!" Tony yelled as the two men raced out of the office.


	8. Chapter 6: Hammer's Trump Card

The loud, piercing sound of glass shattering as it hit the side of a wall with tremendous force rang out in the office of Justin Hammer. The old man was in a rage. He had sent Whiplash AND a new assassin called Wolf to sabotage Tony Stark and get him out of the race to buy his company back almost forty-eight hours ago. But instead of progress and success, he is met with failure. And he NEVER tolerated failure.

"Gentlemen, I trusted you to do one simple task and what did I get instead?" Hammer said rhetorically as he sat back down at his desk. His face was beet red with anger.

Whiplash stood dumbfounded in front of his employer's desk while Wolf leaned up against a nearby wall. He was picking the dirt from the construction site out of his claws.

"Well Mister Hammer, there were two Iron Men there and then Wolf's enemy showed up and we..." Whiplash began, but was quickly silenced when Hammer held up his hand.

"Stop! I don't want to hear it! The reason behind your failure does not help the situation." Hammer said causing Whiplash to hang his head low. Scarlotti was never one for brains and never had anything smart or reasonable to say. Just then, Wolf stood up and came over to Hammer's desk.

"Listen old man, we blew up HALF the complex. That will put your enemy behind at least a few months seeing how primitive and weak this planet is. You never gave us any specifications as to how you wanted this Tony Stark out of the race, but we did our best. Now give us our payments and we'll be on our way." Wolf demanded.

"Hmmm...you're right, Wolf. I will give Whiplash his payment since he at least did that much. You, however, will have to wait." Hammer said as he quickly wrote out a check for Whiplash and handed it to him.

"What do you mean I'll have to wait?" Wolf asked angrily.

Hammer got up from his chair and motioned for both Whiplash and Wolf to follow him. They walked out of the office and into the factory building next door. Inside, hundreds of sweaty workers, both male and female, were busy running machines, pressing buttons, and going over blueprint after blueprint.

As they passed by the main part of the factory, Wolf saw his ship being examined by a number of scientists.

"Hey, what the hell are they doing to my ship!" Wolf demanded as Hammer kept walking. Eventually they came to a huge metal door that had to be opened by remote control and a password only Hammer knew.

"Your alien technology fascinates me, Wolf. I just had to know what made your vehicle so well equipped for space travel. So, I had my personal team of scientists fix it up and learn its secrets." Hammer said as both Wolf and Whiplash were amazed at the robots suddenly standing in before them. Thousands of them lined the room and they were colored similarly to Wolf's ship.

Wolf got closer and looked them over. It was amazing! Even though the people of Earth seemed so primitive compared to Corneria's ways, Hammer and his team had successfully duplicated everything right down to the G-Defusers and aerodynamic principles that the late Doctor Andross had discovered which made his ship much more agile than Fox's.

"It's alright." Wolf said trying to sound unimpressed. Hammer smiled a sinister smile as he pressed another button and the robots suddenly came to live with a jolt of electricity. Their eyes growing red and the gears and mechanics within them made sounds only a monster could make.

"These robots are the key to future wars! Think of the destruction these mechanized monsters could do! And with only a simple controller, I can control their every move! It's like playing one of this arcade games!" Hammer said as he used his controller to make the robots start moving forward and out of the factory.

"Have they been successfully tested on something yet?" Whiplash asked as he looked over the marching mechanical monstrosities.

"Not yet. But tonight is their first chance to destroy a worthy target. Tonight, I'm going to send them to the household of Anthony Stark and ERASE HIM OFF THE FACE OF THIS PLANET!" Hammer said with both anger and triumph in his voice.

"And Iron Man?" Whiplash asked as Hammer pressed another button on the controller.

Suddenly, two robotic exo-skeletons resembling a cross between the Iron Man outfit and Wolf's ship appeared up out of the floor.

"Indeed you are right, Whiplash. These robots may have their own amazing artificial intelligence, but they need a more actual team of leaders to take them into battle against a foe such as Iron Man. That is why I have built these two exo-skeletons for you two. A hundred times more powerful than Iron Man's new battle armor!" Hammer said.

Wolf and Whiplash approached their new battle armor and both smiled fiendishly.

"You know, Whiplash? I think we're gonna have fun with this thing." Wolf chuckled.


	9. Chapter 7: Krystal and the Attack

The wind blew across Fox's face as he watched the ever-darkening skies for any sign of Krystal. A storm was on its way. He could tell. But what kind of storm would it end up being? Isolated or severe? He just hoped Krystal would be able to spot the beacon he had planted on top of Tony Stark's house.

Suddenly just as the first lightning strike and thunder boom hit the air, Fox saw Krystal's Arwing slowly come into view. Quickly cranking the beacon to its highest potential, Fox waved at his beloved as she slowly landed her Arwing next to his on top of the roof.

As soon as she was safely parked, she leapt out of her Arwing, raced over to Fox, and the two embraced each other.

"Oh Fox, I thought I'd lost you." Krystal said as she cried with relief a little.

"Why did you come looking for me? The wormhole could've been dangerous!" Fox said as he looked at her with concern.

"Peppy did some last minute research on it and said it would be safe for travel. So I went through to find you. Falco wanted to do it, but I sabotaged his Arwing so he couldn't come too." Krystal giggled.

"Well, welcome to Earth." Fox said as he showed her the city of Los Angeles sprawled out before them.

"Such a primitive world." Krystal announced as she looked down from Tony's house to the city below. "Is Wolf here too?" Krystal asked after seeing enough of the city.

"Afraid so. And he's working with one of this planet's most dangerous criminals." Fox said gravely.

"Figures. So, are we going to find him or leave him here?" Krystal asked quickly hoping Fox had an escape plan ready.

"I'm sorry, Krystal. But according to a friend I've made here, we can't just go back through the portal. It might take us to another dimension or part of the universe." Fox said sadly.

"Can you trust this friend?" Krystal asked suspiciously.

"I'm pretty sure. He didn't turn me over to this world's government or try to kill me. So I guess he truly means no harm." Fox said as he turned to his Arwing.

But just as Fox turned, a strange noise filled the air causing both him and Krystal to turn and look up. From the darkened and storm ravaged skies came hundreds of mechanical beings headed straight for them.

"Krystal! Run! Into the house!" Fox yelled as the two foxes headed for safety just as the robots opened fire on them.

Due to the sudden and unexpected onslaught, Fox and Krystal couldn't make it into the house in time and were forced to seek shelter behind a large part of Tony's roof that was sticking up. Both of the foxes returned fire using their blasters, but the lasers they shot simply bounced off the robots.

"Krystal! Our attacks aren't doing anything! We've got to get into the house somehow!" Fox yelled just as the robots all landed on top of Tony's roof and started to continuously fire at Fox and Krystal's hiding place.

"We can't, Fox! They're all over the place!" Krystal yelled over the laser fire and the mechanical footsteps caused by the robots.

As Fox tried to think of a way to get Krystal to safety, there were two loud crashes and suddenly all was quiet.

"Playtime's over, Fox." The familiar, yet robotic voice of Wolf called out.

Fox poked his head out from behind his hiding place and saw two familiar enemies inside robotic replicas of Iron Man.

"That you, Wolf?" Fox asked as he quickly went back behind his hiding place.

"Yeah, it's me. Surrender, and I might spare your girlfriend's life!" Wolf said.

"Girlfriend? You mean Krystal? She's not here!" Fox said noticing that Krystal had remained hidden since Wolf landed on the roof.

"Don't play that game, McCloud. I see the other Arwing and I doubt Tony Stark built that!" Wolf said.

Before Fox could come up with something else to say, Whiplash in identical armor to Wolf appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Krystal with his whip.

"No!" Fox yelled as he jumped out from his hiding place and raced after Whiplash but was restrained by some of the robots.

"Well, what's it going to be Fox?" Wolf asked as Whiplash slowly charged up his whips and the electricity surged through Krystal. As she screamed in agony, Fox fought to try and break the robots' grip, but it was too much.

"I'm waiting for your answer!" Wolf said louder as Whiplash turned up the voltage on his whips causing Krystal's armor to start burning away and fur seemed to smoke.

"Okay! Okay! I surrender! Just please, don't hurt her anymore!" Fox said as he hung his head low and Whiplash cut the power on his whips.

"Good pup. Now, tell us where Tony Stark and Iron Man are." Wolf demanded as he approached Fox and lifted his head up so they were looking directly in each other's eyes.

"I...I don't know where Tony Stark or Iron Man are. I haven't seen them since the construction site battle!" Fox said. Wolf squeezed harder on Fox's face causing his cheeks to fold into his face.

"Where is Stark?" Wolf growled.

"I told you! Please, I don't know anything! Let her go!" Fox managed to say even though his mouth was practically closed thanks to Wolf's grip.

"You know what Fox? I believe you. I can see it in your eyes. You were always predictable and easy to read." Wolf said as he loosened his grip and stepped back a little. "However..." Wolf continued but then stopped.

Then, like lightning, Wolf's metallic hand slapped Fox across the face, followed by a nice swift metal punch in the stomach. Fox toppled over. Broken. Defeated.

"That's something I've wanted to do for years. Now then, if you don't bring Tony Stark and Iron Man to Hammer Industries by the end of tonight, I'm going to find you and make you watch as we fry her until she's nothing but a charred corpse." Wolf threatened fiendishly as he kicked Fox in the gut once more before waving Whiplash and the other robots on.

The last thing Fox saw before he closed his eyes was the thrusters on the robots flying away into the darkened skies.


	10. Chapter 8: Fight Fire with Fire

"Fox! Fox! Wake up, man!" The voice of Jim Rhodes said as Fox slowly opened his eyes and tasted the silvery taste of blood in his mouth.

As he swallowed, Fox got up and looked around. It was still night and the storm had turned into nothing more than a light rain. Fox shivered a little as Jim Rhodes helped him to his feet.

"What happened man?" Rhodes asked as Fox rubbed his bruised face and aching chest.

"Wolf...Whiplash...robots...came and...beat me. They were...looking for Tony...Stark." Fox said as he tried to shake the pain off. He had felt pain before from many different sources, but this had to be the worst beating he had ever taken.

"What's with the second ship? Is that Wolf's or something?" Rhodes asked pointing to Krystal's Arwing parked next to Fox's.

"Long...story...short...girlfriend came and...tried to rescue...me." Fox said as he managed to shake off some more of the pain and get his vision completely back.

"Girlfriend? What the hell you talkin' about?" Rhodes asked as he kept looking from Fox to the Arwings.

"Where's Tony?" Fox asked.

"I'm here." Tony said coming out from behind Fox's Arwing. "And I've heard everything." He finished.

"What are we going to do, Tony?" Rhodes asked as Fox sat down still trying to shake off the beating.

"Well, as dad always said: Fight fire with fire. I'm going to analyze Fox's Arwing and see if I can make some modifications to my armor." Tony said going back to looking over the interior of the Arwing.

"Wait. How do you know Wolf, Whiplash, and Hammer's robots were modified from Cornerian technology?" Fox asked.

"We saw the robots flying away from the house. They were like nothing we'd ever seen. We thought that was you they had, but now that you mentioned your girlfriend, I suppose not." Rhodes said.

"It was a simple matter of deduction, Fox. By the way they were moving and by the strange way they were designed, we could only guess they were from your neck of the woods." Tony said. "But what about this girlfriend of yours?" Tony asked as he continued to work on the Arwing.

"Krystal's everything to me. If I'd lose her, I don't know what I'd do." Fox said as he breathed heavily and Rhodes gave him an ice pack to put on his face which was starting to swell.

"How much time do we have?" Tony asked as he took some parts from the Arwing and looked them over.

"Wolf said I have to bring you and Iron Man to Hammer Industries before tonight is over or else they'll kill Krystal." Fox said desperately.

"Well then, we don't have much time." Tony said as he took the parts he had unhooked from the interior of the Arwing and walked down into the house.

The hours went on and Fox waited with Rhodes on the main level of the house while they listened to Tony drilling and hammering in the workshop below. Rhodes began to dose off into sleep, but Fox remained wide awake as he thought of Krystal and hoped he wouldn't be too late to save her.

Suddenly, coming up the stairs, Rhodes and Fox were startled by the sound of heavy metallic footsteps. Out of the shadowy basement came the figure of Iron Man, except now his armor showed hints of Cornerian technology and even echoed the blue from Fox's Arwing while still keeping with the classic red.

Fox had to smile a bit when he saw Tony had kept the "Star Fox" logo on his armor.

Tony looked up at his two allies and smiled under his helmet. "Let's kick ass."


	11. Chapter 9: Showdown at Hammer Industries

"Again! Again, you two fail me!" Hammer yelled as he addressed his two henchmen in his office. "I ask you to use my new robots and your exo-skeletons to destroy Tony Stark and instead you bring back this...this THING!" Hammer said trying to find a way to describe Krystal whose legs and hands were bound with a metallic rope.

"For your information, I am a vixen! Thank you very much." Krystal said hoping to get on Hammer's nerves.

"Save your breath, missy. Each one may be your last!" Hammer threatened as Krystal smirked. She liked to get on the bad guy's nerves.

But before anyone in the room could say another word, there was a huge explosion. Hammer raced to the window and looked outside to see Iron Man in his new armor hovering right by the window.

"Iron Man! Get him you idiots!" Hammer yelled to Wolf and Whiplash who immediately dashed for their exo-skeletons.

"If Iron Man is here, Fox can't be too far behind! You take care of the walked tin can! Fox is mine!" Wolf said sternly to Whiplash as they activated their exo-skeletons.

"Whatever. Just don't get in my way, furball." Whiplash retorted.

Within seconds, the two villains flew out into the cool night air and activated their scanners in hopes of picking up any signs of Iron Man or Fox's Arwing. But their efforts were for naught as Iron Man swiftly knocked Whiplash to the ground.

"Impossible! My scanners should have picked you up!" Whiplash yelled in confusion.

"Sorry if I forgot to tell you, Scarlotti. But this new armor isn't just designed to match your own, it also comes equipped with the necessary tech to jam your scanner." Tony said as Whiplash got up and tried use his whips to continue fighting.

But once again, Tony was just too quick as he grabbed a hold of Whiplash's first and then second whip and used them to throw the assassin into Hammer's factory.

Meanwhile, Fox had used Iron Man's distraction to sneak into Hammer's facility and managed to find Krystal in Hammer's office. Luckily for him, Hammer had abandoned it for a more secure hiding place.

"Fox!" Krystal said happily as he crept into the room with his blaster set to lethal.

"I'll have you untied in a second." Fox said as he began to cut through the metal ropes using the blaster's lowest setting.

But before he could finish cutting, Wolf crashed through the office wall, grabbed Fox by the tail, and flung him right through the window and to the ground below.

As he struggled to get up, Fox felt some things in his body break. "Oh, I'm going to feel that in the morning." Fox thought to himself as he tried to prepare himself for Wolf's next attack. He still wasn't completely healed from his previous encounter with the armor-powered Wolf, but he was willing to risk everything for Krystal's sake.

Wolf landed in front of him and grabbed him by his red scarf. "You know Fox, this was a lot of fun but all good things must come to an end. Now I'm more powerful than you and not even your flying skills would be able to save you." Wolf said as Fox struggled to keep conscious. He had to stop Wolf. He had to help Tony stop Hammer. He had to rescue Krystal.

But just as Wolf was about finish him off, a sudden blast hit Wolf from behind causing him to lose his balance a little and drop Fox.

Fox looked up to see Jim Rhodes holding a large plasma canon and smiling a little. "That was for the ambush at the construction site." Rhodes said.

"Thanks." Fox said weakly as he turned to face Wolf again.

"Need anymore help?" Rhodes said preparing to fire the weapon again as Wolf turned and began to growl at both of them.

"No, I think I've got a pretty good chance now." Fox said with a little chuckle.

"Lots of luck." Rhodes said as he backed off.

Wolf then charged at Fox who took a huge and painful leap into the air and landed on Wolf's back.

"Sorry Wolf, I'm pulling the plug on this party!" Fox said as he reached into an exposed part of Wolf's exo-skeleton and ripped out a bunch of wires.

"No!" Wolf protested as he tried to shake Fox off, but to no avail as the exo-skeleton powered down and the armor landed face flat, trapping Wolf inside.

"I'll get you for this, McCloud!" Wolf threatened as he tried to break out.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots." Fox sarcastically said as he pretended to be afraid of his once great enemy.

A few seconds later, both Tony and Rhodes found Fox heading back towards Hammer's building.

"How did you do with Wolf?" Tony asked as he landed in front of his wounded comrade.

"Down for the count. What about Whiplash and Hammer?" Fox asked.

"The same as Wolf for Whiplash. The police are already on their way. Hammer, however, is still in that factory somewhere." Rhodes said as he pointed towards Hammer's factory.

Just then, an entire army of Hammer's robots came flying out from the factory and landed in front of Tony, Rhodes, and Fox. The last person to exit the factory was Hammer holding his controller.

"Give it up, Hammer. The police are on their way over and we've got both Wolf and Whiplash. It's over for you." Tony said.

"You seem to be mistaken, Iron Man. As I recall, it was you three, Wolf, and Whiplash I caught trespassing on my property. But when you refused to leave, I resulted to brute force. How sad that Tony Stark should result to having his own people invade my territory just to get me out of the race to buy his company." Hammer said as he explained his new plan.

"It's your words against our's, Hammer." Rhodes said as he aimed his plasma canon at the robots.

"Afraid not, Colonel. Because in a matter of minutes, you won't have any words left." Hammer said fiendishly as he activated the robots and they prepared to charge.

"Tony! We're not in any condition to fight these things now! Whiplash and Wolf were trouble enough! We got to retreat!" Rhodes whispered loudly to Tony who stood his ground with Fox.

"Kill them all!" Hammer commanded his robots. But just then, the robots suddenly shutoff and fell to the ground.

"W...what happened?" Hammer asked as he tried to turn them back on with his controller. But try as he might, the robots didn't move or even make a sound.

"N...no! This can't be happening! They were my masterpiece!" Hammer said angrily as he threw the controller to the ground.

"You did this!" Hammer yelled as he pointed to Fox. "You! You're friends with that Wolf and female fox in my office, aren't you?" Hammer yelled as he ran up to Fox and grabbed him by the throat. "TELL ME HOW TO RE-ACTIVATE THE ROBOTS OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR LADY FRIEND AGAIN!" Hammer screamed as he began to choke Fox.

Before Tony or Rhodes could do anything to help, Fox managed to grab Hammer's frail arm and tossed the old man onto his backside.

"Oh! Ow!" Hammer announced in pain while Fox looked straight down into the old tycoon's eyes with pure disgust and anger.

"Listen you! You touch my girlfriend or try to hurt me or Tony Stark or any of his friends again, and I'll come back and make you eat Rhodes' plasma canon! Got it!" Fox yelled in anger as the old man started to shake in fear.

"Yes! Yes! I got it! Please, don't hurt me!" Hammer said as he put his arms in front of his face in fear.

"Good. I'm glad we understood each other." Fox said as he, Iron Man, and Rhodes headed into Hammer's office to get Krystal while the police arrived.


	12. Epilogue: Startling Developments

"I'm glad Tony Stark finally came to his senses and brought in the extraterrestrials. But then again, he kind of owes SHIELD since we saved his bodyguard and private pilot by deactivating Hammer's robots." Colonel Fury said as SHIELD agents and Iron Man escorted Fox and Krystal through a hallway in the SHIELD helicarrier. It was a week after the battle at Hammer Industries and Fox was fully healed.

"As long you keep to your end of the bargain and help us get them home." Iron Man said sternly.

"Yes. Yes. Plenty of time for that." Fury said as they continued to walk down the long hallway.

"What about Wolf?" Fox asked.

"We searched Hammer Industries for your enemy, but all we found was an empty exo-skeleton. No sign of your friend, Wolf. But right now, we have something else to discuss." Fury told Fox as they all entered a room at the end of the hallway.

"Something else?" Krystal asked as they all stood around a single table in the room at the end of the hallway.

"What I'm about to show you all is top secret. But right now, I think it be best if you all knew this. Iron Man, do you remember the Roswell Incident?" Fury asked.

"Why yes. I remember. The conspiracy theorists love to debate if it was real or not. They think UFOs and aliens crashed landed in Roswell, New Mexico back in the 50s." Iron Man said.

"Exactly. When I saw a picture of the type of spacecraft that Fox, Wolf, and Krystal were piloting, I immediately made the connection." Fury said as he revealed an envelope from a nearby drawer.

"Commander McCloud, I think you'll want to see these." Fury said as he handed the envelope to Fox.

As Fox opened them, he saw old photos of what appeared to be burnt and crumbled debris of an Arwing. He even noticed the Arwing had the "Star Fox" logo on the side. But what really shocked him and caused his eyes to begin to water a little was when he saw the wounded body of a Cornerian fox who resembled his father.

"Who is this? What happened here?" Fox asked.

"We're not sure. A similar creature resembling you and answering to the name James fell through a similar wormhole that appeared by the moon for a few minutes back in the 50s crash landed. He died before we could examine him and the wreckage was too burnt and destroyed to salvage anything." Fury said as Fox began to cry a little.

All his life, he thought Andross had simply killed his father when in reality, he almost escaped if not for that blasted wormhole!

"But that's not the REAL reason I called you all here. I want you all to take a look at this footage we caught on satellite imaging last night." Fury said as he turned on the monitor and everyone gathered around.

What they saw next really spooked them. Coming out of the wormhole were hundreds upon hundreds of strange looking space battleships all armed to the teeth with futuristic and advanced weaponry.

"What is this!" Fox asked amazed.

"That's not the weirdest part." Fury said as he pointed again to the monitor which changed from satellite imagery to a video with a shadowy figure sitting a chair.

"People of the planet Earth! I issue you a warning! If you do not surrender the Destroyer armor to me by the time I return, I will destroy your planet. You have been warned!" The shadowy figure stated before the monitor went dark.

"The space battleships then retreated back into the wormhole." Fury said. "You know what this means don't you? Whoever this madman is, he's obviously in control of the wormhole and is threatening to destroy Earth." Fury stated plainly.

"Colonel, we've got to contact the Avengers!" Iron Man said.

"And I'll stay long enough to help you put this danger down." Fox said as well, but truthfully he just wanted to get at the mysterious mastermind's throat for causing his dad to be sucked through the wormhole and end up dead on Earth.

"Alright then, let's get started." Fury said as he turned the monitor to a different setting. "The first person we need to locate for the team's re-assemblage is the Incredible Hulk!"

The countdown to my final book involving a crossover between the Smash Brothers and the Avengers begins! Coming up in my next book, Doctor Bruce Banner (a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk) finds himself on the run from General Ross. But on complete accident, Hulk finds himself trapped in the Mushroom Kingdom thanks to a certain "pipe in the sewers of NYC" and the not-so-jolly green giant ends up teaming with the Super Mario Brothers in order to free the Mushroom Kingdom from the combined might of Fawful and the equally furious Abomination.

COMING SOON:

The Incredible Hulk & the Super Mario Brothers in

"BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE TOAD TOWN"


End file.
